Óscar Manuel Cortés Cortés (born 3 December 2003) is a Colombian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a winger for side

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Club career

Millonarios

Born in

Tumaco Tumaco is a port city and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia, by the Pacific Ocean. It is located on the southwestern corner of Colombia, near the border with Ecuador, and experiences a hot tropical climate. Tumaco is inhabited main ...

, Cortés progressed through the academy of

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club, known simply as Millonarios, is a Colombian professional football club based in Bogotá, that competes in the Categoría Primera A, top flight of football in Colombia. It is one of the most successful and iconic clubs i ...

, making his debut in the 2022 season. He signed his first professional contract in May of the same year. On 12 January 2022, Cortés made his debut for Millonarios' first team in the opening match of the Apertura against

Deportivo Pasto Asociación Deportivo Pasto, also known as Deportivo Pasto, is a Colombian professional football team based in the city of Pasto, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Estadio Departamental Libertad ...

. He came on as a substitute in the 89th minute for Macalister Silva in a match that ended with Millonarios winning 1–0. In February, Cortés formed part of Millonario's under-20 squad, which competed at the

2022 U-20 Copa Libertadores The 2022 U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores () was the 6th edition of the U-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''U-20 Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier under-20 club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. It was held ...

. On 12 May, he scored his first professional goal in a second-leg

Copa Colombia The Copa Colombia (); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs affiliated to the División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (DIMAYOR) and is the ...

match against

Jaguares de Córdoba Jaguares de Córdoba is a professional Colombian football team based in Montería, that plays in Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Jaraguay stadium. History The team was created on 5 December 2012 at a meeting held by t ...

, contributing to Millonarios' 1–1 tie in the game and aiding the team in advancing to the quarter-finals 4–1 on aggregate. After an impressive performance for Colombia at the

2023 South American U-20 Championship The 2023 South American U-20 Championship was the 30th edition of the South American U-20 Championship (, ), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-20 national teams of South America. It wa ...

, Cortés drew the attention of

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, who have been linked with a potential move for the player. Upon his return to Millonarios, Cortés scored his first brace for the club on 18 February during a league match against Jaguares. His performances contributed to Millonarios' 2–1 home victory, securing three important points for the team. On 2 March, a remarkable display by Cortés played a pivotal role in Millonarios' victory over Ecuadorian side Universidad Católica in the second round of the

2023 Copa Libertadores The 2023 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 64th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The final was played at the Estádio ...

. Cortés' contribution included assisting Millonario's equalizing goal and creating the game-winning play that ultimately secured a 2–1 aggregate victory for Millonarios, advancing them to the third round of the tournament to face Brazilian powerhouse

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

Lens

On 14 July 2023, Cortés transferred to French Ligue 1 club

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

. The fee reported for the transfer was $5 million (€4.4M). He scored his first goal with Lens on 16 December 2023 in a 2–0 home victory against

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

Rangers

On 1 February 2024, Cortés moved on loan to the Scottish club

. On 24 February 2024, Cortés scored his first Rangers goal in a 5-0 win over Hearts at Ibrox. On 3 June 2024,

announced that Cortés had signed another loan deal for the 2024-25 season, with an obligation to buy in the summer of 2025. On 1 July 2025, Cortés permanent move to Rangers for a fee of £4.5 million was confirmed.

International career

Youth

Cortés has represented Colombia at under-20 level. He starred at the

as Colombia finished third, helping his team qualify to the

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth Association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since i ...

in Indonesia and the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games (), officially the XIX Pan American Games () and commonly known as Santiago 2023, were an international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, held in Santiago, Chile from 20 October to 5 Novem ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. With three goals to his name, he emerged as Colombia's leading scorer in the tournament, thanks to his brace against Peru in the group stage and a goal he scored during Colombia's impressive 3–0 victory over Paraguay in the final stage.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Millonarios *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

: 2023-I Individual *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

Bronze Boot:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortés, Óscar 2003 births Living people Footballers from Tumaco Colombian men's footballers Colombia men's international footballers Colombia men's youth international footballers 21st-century Colombian sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Categoría Primera A players Ligue 1 players Championnat National 3 players Millonarios F.C. players RC Lens players Rangers F.C. players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland